General questions: flintlocks
 

ok, so I am really close to pulling the trigger on a hawkens flintlock.
But, I know little about this type of muzzleloading. I bought a book on it and am beginning to start reading, but its a long book. I don't know anyone nearby with knowledge on them, so I figured I would ask a couple questions and see what you guys think.
1. Is there a certain type of flint that ignites better?
2. how much powder is typically put in the pan? 2 grains?
3. can you only shoot blackpowder or can you shoot loose pyrodex or t7?
4. do you have to shoot balls or can you shoot sabots or powerbelts?
5. when shooting loose powder...say with a powerbelt or sabot...what is the loading procedure? (ie...does it require any thing different to be done then in a stnd inline?)
6. what else would be good know before thinking of purchasing?

Thanks for your time for someone who knows nothing about this type of muzzleloading.:patriot:

ok, so I am really close to pulling the trigger on a hawkens flintlock.
But, I know little about this type of muzzleloading. I bought a book on it and am beginning to start reading, but its a long book. I don't know anyone nearby with knowledge on them, so I figured I would ask a couple questions and see what you guys think.
1. Is there a certain type of flint that ignites better? the cut agates work real well but can not be sharpened. The flint I recommend is a Thomas Fuller Black English Flint. You can get a lot of sparks off one.

A word about flints. Sometimes they come to you hump backed. I take a dremel tool with a diamond wheel and trim the hump down so they fit nice and level in the jaws. You want to get the flint set in the jaws so there is about a 16th of an inch from the frizzen when the rifle is on half ****. A little more then that will not kill you. Also some rifles like the flint bevel down, others like it bevel up. A trick to more shots from a flint is lets say you shot fifteen shots bevel down. Flip the flint over and you shoot 15 more and naturally reshape the flint. Other wise you have to learn to knapp the flint.
2. how much powder is typically put in the pan? 2 grains? It depends on the pan flask but most of them out between 2-4 grains. Mine puts 3 grains and I like to set it to the outside edge of the pan.
3. can you only shoot blackpowder or can you shoot loose pyrodex or t7? You can shoot sub powders out of SOME flintlocks. But what you will find is, they do not get consistent and fast ignition. You tend to get a fuse effect as the powder is trying to ignite. Use real black powder as the main charge and in the pan and you will have little problems.
4. do you have to shoot balls or can you shoot sabots or powerbelts? 1-48 twist, you can shoot ball, powerbelts, conical, even sabot. What ever is most accurate in the rifle.
5. when shooting loose powder...say with a powerbelt or sabot...what is the loading procedure? (ie...does it require any thing different to be done then in a stnd inline?) load the projectile just as you would in an inline.
6. what else would be good know before thinking of purchasing? Flintlocks are as fast as any percussion cap rifle. Flintlocks will go off in wet weather. Flintlocks are a sickness. You get one and you will own more then one real soon. Get some fuzzy pipe cleaners if you get one. And first thing I do is replace the vent hole liner with a RMC vent hole line with the allen head.

Thanks for your time for someone who knows nothing about this type of muzzleloading.:patriot:

Only thing I can add is REAL men shoot flintlocks...:)

Dave sum it up pretty good but you failed to mention the maker of the flinter?T/C ?
T/C locks have improved on there hammers if you have a old lock they will replace it free of charge
T/C also improved on there vent liners the newer ones .070 installed with a allen key instead of the screwdriver slot.(remember o use some nipple grease on the ventliners when target shooting and not any at all if you plan to hunt.
Next the new locks use 3/4"W x 7/8 long track of the wolf sell them tom fuller black english flints.dave is correct t/c locks hate the hump on flints so if you order over the phone ask if they would be so kind to try to send you flat tops for a t/c lock
The frizzen on t/c are so so a good replacemen is a Lyman frizzen takes aa little filing to fit but they spark a lot better then t/c frizzens.I have a frizzenon one of my locks Ly,man some were around 800 shots and still :patriot:going strong

i thought real men shot fuselocks?

I thought real men did what ever they themselves decided to do; not what other 'men' thought they would or should do.

Are you referring to match locks???

+1:lolabove:

btw...Mnhunter...A flintlock can go off without any prime in the pan...Say, you have a no flash in the pan situation and stop and knapp the flint...DO NOT, test by snapping with powder in the barrel...

As to how much prime...It really depends upon the flintlock...Both of mine have their vents high so the hole is covered by the base of the frizzen when closed...In this situation it's fine to fill the pan...If the touch hole is lower the amount of prime can be critical...

thanks for all the information, its is very informative, much thanks to Dave for his input. It is a tc...a used one, so I don't know if it is of older design or newer design. but these are all good tips....though a couple comments went over my head because of lack of knowledge.